...so I rented the movie "Capote". I still can remember what Truman Capote was like from the television appearances that he made, at least his public personna. I always thought that he was a little creepy, and his behavior in his later years was always heavily masked by alcohol abuse, but the movie gave me a little better perspective, at least as much as any movie is able to do.

What struck me most about Mr. C was the large measure of self indulgence that guided his actions. The movie portrayed him as a bon vivant of the literary set, and although his outrageous statements were what made him so daring in his day, today they wouldn't even raise a minor fuss.

Not only was Capote's self indulgence displayed but so was his obsession with the Cutler murders as a driving force in his life for 4 years. If not for the book that came out of his obsession, "In Cold Blood", it seems likely that he would have faded into a vague memory for writing "Breakfast At Tiffanys" and his holiday trilogy "A Christmas Memory", "One Christmas", and "The Thanksgiving Visitor".

What surprised me, and a fact that I hadn't known, was his friendship with Nelle Harper Lee, the author of "To Kill A Mockingbird". Very interesting.

One quote of his that came from an unfinished work was something like "More tears are shed over answered prayers than over unanswered ones."

The movie, which is not very exciting, is still well done and worth a viewing . I paid $3.95 to see it on "pay per view" and it was worth every penny...but not one penny more.